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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26861932">of orchids and egg yolk</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefudge/pseuds/thefudge'>thefudge</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>mr. and mrs. holmes [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Enola Holmes (2020), Enola Holmes Series - Nancy Springer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Fluff, Period-Typical Racism, Slow Burn, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 18:07:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,310</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26861932</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefudge/pseuds/thefudge</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>They eat mint cake together, savouring the comfortable silence and the smell of ink and parchment (or, Edith and Sherlock keep falling for each other)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Edith Grayston/Sherlock Holmes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>mr. and mrs. holmes [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1952764</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>178</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>of orchids and egg yolk</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>one silver lining of this academic year is that it has made me want to escape into fanfic daily, so i'm faster on the updates! oh yes, part 4 is already half-written, which means there will probably be around 6 or 7 parts in total. hope you enjoy and thank you for your lovely words! these crazy kids have taken over me heart and soul!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Edith is a prodigious note-taker. She keeps a little bound notebook next to her reading material and, after every page, jots down the salient points in a lovely cursive script. He studies her writing when she thinks he is engrossed in his newspaper. Given his extensive knowledge of calligraphy, what he ascertains from the samples is that she is a person who likes to keep to herself, but is sometimes given to great bouts of affection and generosity, judging from the loops in her l’s and y’s.</p><p>She is also very ordered in her thoughts. She keeps a pen at her side, even when she is reading a novel. She must jot down everything of importance. It is almost a compulsion.</p><p>He asks her about it one evening as they are sitting in the back of her shop, reading together. He has become quite a fixture there, despite her repeated pronouncements that they lead separate, entirely disconnected lives.</p><p>“Why do you write it all down?”</p><p>Edith looks up from the latest manuscript. She wipes ink-stained fingers on a tea towel.</p><p>“It’s how I make sense of it. I like to wrestle with the text sometimes.”</p><p>“Always a fighter,” he remarks with humour.</p><p>“Precisely. It is also useful to document my sources for future writing endeavours.”</p><p>Sherlock raises an eyebrow. “Do tell.”</p><p>Edith bites her lip, regretting having shared her intentions. She speaks quickly. “Well, I’m going to – maybe – present a paper at the Violet Ladies’ Society.”</p><p>“Are you? And what sort of Society is this?”</p><p>“A scientific one,” she says proudly. “For female scholars of all kinds. But also suffragettes. Mainly suffragettes.”</p><p>“Ah.”</p><p>Edith throws him a look. “You don’t approve?”</p><p>He smiles. “Of course not. It is most shocking and scandalous. Which is why I <em>must</em> read your paper when it is finished.”</p><p>Edith smiles in return.  </p><p>He opens his mouth to tell her she would make a fine resident at the Reading Room of the British Museum, but he realizes she would not be allowed to occupy a table there, and the words die on his lips. He frowns. What a queer, stupid world they live in. He remembers now why he hates politics and civilized society and why Edith is interested in both.</p><p>“Mint cake?” she asks, pulling him away from his thoughts.</p><p>“I could fetch you more volumes for your research,” he says, still frowning.</p><p>Edith cuts a slice of cake. “I have plenty of books here.”</p><p>“One can never have too many,” he argues.</p><p>Edith places the cake before him. “Have you considered you too would benefit from some extensive reading?”</p><p>Sherlock blinks. He looks up at her in surprise.  “I read constantly.”</p><p>“Yes, botanical tracts and gardening magazines and military memoirs and natural philosophy. A great big hodgepodge of things you find useful. You might widen your horizons.”</p><p>Sherlock can’t help a small, satisfied smirk. So, she pays a great deal of attention to his reading, does she?</p><p>“Well, if you wish me to pick up John Stuart Mill you might do me the favour of reading John Lindley’s studies on the varieties of orchids or Theodore Gobley’s papers on the chemical properties of acids in egg yolk. Fascinating subjects, both.”</p><p>Edith makes a face. “Egg yolk. As if I don’t spend enough time with eggs, as is.”</p><p>“If you want me to read your books, you must read mine,” he says finally.</p><p>Edith heaves a rueful sigh. “Oh, all right.”</p><p>They eat mint cake together, savouring the comfortable silence and the smell of ink and parchment. Outside, a soft curtain of rain steams the windows. Because it is raining, he stays a bit longer. At another time in his life, he would have loathed company in the evening. He has always liked living alone. But whenever he leaves her shop and returns to his quiet rooms, he feels like a child who has been sent upstairs to bed and is missing all the interesting action downstairs. There is Enola, of course, but he hardly ever sees her, as she flits about London like a songbird in search of crickets. And he doesn't require a second sister, thank you very much. No, with Edith, it's different. Her company is both exciting and comforting. It is a strange mixture which he tries not to examine too closely, for fear that his propensity for addiction might be encouraged beyond hope.</p><p>Though, on that account, he might have already succumbed.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>A rather prolonged visit to the countryside to assist a dowager – Lady Mortimer, important relation of his brother’s, of course – in finding a missing necklace keeps him away from Edith and her shop. He pens her a letter, canvassing the details of the case, throwing in a few humorous descriptions of the grand manor and the avaricious grandsons and nephews lurking about the place, and he asks her to make an educated guess as to who might have pilfered the family heirloom. Edith does write back in her lovely cursive, but her letter is rather short. She sounds – <em>preoccupied</em>.</p><p>Still, she has enough presence of spirit to tell him that, if it were up to her, she’d congratulate whichever relation had decided to put the necklace to good use.</p><p><em>P.S.,</em> she adds at the end of the letter, <em>check everyone’s pockets. </em></p><p>As he happens to read her letter in the family drawing room, Sherlock can’t help a short, brusque laugh which he is, afterwards, at pains to explain to the stiff-faced Mortimers.</p><p>But he soon finds out the reason for her preoccupation.</p><p>On the second evening of his return he pays Edith a visit and immediately realizes something has occurred, something which has clearly upset her. Her smile is strained. She tries to look pleased at his visit, but her eyes are sadly lacklustre. Sherlock feels an almost irrational bout of anger, which he tries to keep in check. Who has done this, he wants to ask, but instead he calmly and gently prods her with questions until it all comes out.</p><p>It seems that the Violet Ladies’ Society will not allow her to present her paper in public.  She may send them the manuscript and her initials will appear in the list of contributors, but at this point in time, the Society, which is struggling to gain a respectable reputation, cannot afford to advertise itself as too radical.</p><p>Sherlock says nothing for a long time.</p><p>“It’s all right,” she tells him, noting his peeved expression. “I’ll be glad to have my name there, at least. And perhaps it’s for the best. I should have started my own society a long time ago. I have enough contacts in the underground network to make it work. Your mother would approve. Of course, it could never go public, but mine would turn no one away. I bet I could even recruit some of my students.”  </p><p>Sherlock nods, attempting a smile. “That sounds like a sensible plan.”</p><p>Still, he knows he won’t let this lie.</p><p>The next day, he makes an appointment with his brother.</p><p>“I need you to ruffle some ladies’ feathers for me.”</p><p>Mycroft is a little taken aback. His little brother is not in the habit of quarrelling with the fairer sex. “And what have these ladies done to you?”</p><p>Sherlock smiles. “Oh, they’re just a coterie of rather insufferable suffragettes.”</p><p>He has him at ‘suffragettes’, of course.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It does not take long for Edith to put two and two together when a very apologetic letter from the Violet Ladies’ Society arrives, inviting her to present her paper at their the following week’s session.  </p><p>She places this letter in front of Sherlock.</p><p>“Well?”</p><p>Sherlock looks over it absently. “Oh, they’ve reconsidered. How nice of them.”</p><p>“I suppose this newfound benevolence had nothing to do with you?” she asks sternly.</p><p>“<em>Moi</em>? Have you seen me conferring with suffragettes before?”</p><p>“Sherlock.”</p><p>“Mycroft, on the other hand, can’t get enough of them.”</p><p>Edith huffs. “I didn’t ask for your help. That’s not how I want to go about this. I want – I want them to welcome me of their own accord.”</p><p>Sherlock shakes his head. “That would take far too long.”</p><p>“But –”</p><p>“And besides, some people only respond to <em>particular</em> methods of persuasion. I learned that a long time ago.”</p><p>Edith looks down at her hands.  “Well, I can’t go. They’d all stare at me like an intruder.”</p><p>“At first. They will get used to you, soon enough. If they are as clever as they purport, they will even like you.”</p><p>“No, they won’t. They will resent me for forcing myself on them. You don’t understand how this feels,” she murmurs despondently. And he realizes she is showing him a part of herself she usually keeps under lock and key. He must not scare her away. He rises from his chair and makes his way to her side. He places his hands on her shoulders.  </p><p> “You will have your own Society one day. But you must also go to this meeting.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Because you must show them what you’re made of. And it would be good for their sainted parlours to welcome someone new for a change. You are an individual, Edith. You will always be disliked by those with narrow minds and hearts. Be strong, as I know you are.”</p><p>He must admit that he had not planned for this little speech in advance, but he believes every word of it, which is not something he would have foreseen before knowing her.</p><p>Edith’s eyes are filled with a guarded warmth he has only rarely caught before. He feels suddenly that excitement that she always brings with her in the room. How like a schoolboy he is around her, and she must have little idea.</p><p>And then she does something that quite undoes him.</p><p>She rises on her toes and kisses him on the cheek, barely brushing her lips there.</p><p>She stands back on her feet with a wary look. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have–”</p><p>“Yes, you should have,” he says quickly, leaning close, looking at her lips. <em>I am going to kiss you now Edith, and you had better not hold it against me,</em> he thinks.</p><p>But at that exact moment, he hears Enola’s voice behind him.</p><p>“<em>Oh</em>. I did not know I was interrupting. I will come back later.”</p><p>Though he quite dotes on his sister, at this very moment, there are some very choice words on his lips with regards to her timing.</p><p>Edith quickly moves away from him, brushing her apron guiltily. “Enola! You’re not interrupting at all. Your brother and I were – only discussing a case. What brings you here?”</p><p>Enola eyes them both with a small smile on her lips.</p><p>“I only came to fetch some books and give you a letter for Mother.  But do tell me what case in particular you were discussing.”</p><p>Sherlock grits his teeth. Oh, she is quite something sometimes.  </p><p>“Uhh, it was that necklace affair, the dowager’s necklace,” Edith mumbles, sounding very unconvincing, poor soul.</p><p>“That was weeks ago,” Enola remarks.</p><p>“It does not hurt to go over the facts one more time,” Sherlock remarks severely. “In fact, it is part of a detective’s duty to revise his conclusions. Now, dear sister, shall I walk you home?”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Do not,” he warns her, holding up a finger.</p><p>But Enola is tipping over with excitement and it would be a nigh-impossible task to keep her quiet.</p><p>“You like her! You like Edith!”</p><p>“Of course I like her, she is a remarkable young woman.”</p><p>“No, you dolt, I mean that you <em>fancy</em> her.”</p><p>“I will not tolerate such nonsensical talk from you,” he snaps, tapping his cane against the pavement in frustration. The last thing he needs is his nosy little sister to investigate his motives – or God forbid – <em>feelings</em>.</p><p>“I may be much younger than you but I’m not <em>that</em> naïve. I saw the way you looked at each other. You were about to ki-”</p><p>“If you say one more foolish word, I will make sure Mycroft sends you back to Miss Harrison’s school.”</p><p>“You wouldn’t.”</p><p>“Do not try me.”</p><p>“Oh come off it, I’m only happy for you! Edith is an excellent choice.”</p><p>Sherlock rounds on her. “There is no choice. I am a confirmed bachelor and as you’ve pointed out, much older than you. Therefore, you’ll refrain from speculating on my personal life.”</p><p>Enola pouts. “Aren’t I part of your personal life?”</p><p>Sherlock heaves a sigh. “You are, much to my chagrin. But you must allow me my privacy. I do not question you about that young Viscount, do I?”</p><p>It’s his sister’s turn to falter. “What of him? We’re good friends.”</p><p>Sherlock levels her with a look. “Well then, Edith and I are also good friends, and let’s leave it at that, shall we?”</p><p>Enola half-heartedly agrees and keeps quiet the rest of the way, but he doesn’t like that hidden grin at the corner of her mouth. No, he doesn’t like it at all.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>As he sits by the fire that night, alone and without his intrepid baker’s company, Sherlock thinks on his words to Enola. The phrase “confirmed bachelor” rings rather hollow in his ears. But he has never believed in the good of matrimony and he has often seen the downright poison which stems from the affairs of the heart. He has managed to keep himself perfectly immune so far. If he desired someone, he would obtain an interval of pleasure, but nothing more. When he decided to pursue Edith, he did not envision these…complications. For God’s sake, he even called her his <em>partner</em>, and it was only supposed to mean ‘partner in crime’ or ‘close associate’, but now… now that too rings hollow in his ears.</p><p> For the first time since he can remember, the future does not seem quite so sure.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>omgosh, will edith and sherlock finally kiss in part 4??? stay tuned!<br/>(also, i wonder if edith's writing skills and note-taking will ever have relevance for sherlock??? *cough rhymes with batson cough*)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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